Revised agreement with Microsoft allows Barnes & Noble to drop support for its Nook Windows app

This week, Microsoft and Nook Media have amended the now two year old agreement between the two companies that will see some changes coming to the Nook Windows app. According to an 8-K filing by Barnes & Noble, Nook media is allowed to stop development on its yet to be released Windows Phone app and to stop distributing its Windows app.

However, based on reports it sounds as though Nook Media has some kind of replacement on the way for the Nook Windows app called the "Microsoft Consumer Reader." While the name might suggest otherwise, this is reported to be software and not some kind of Microsoft branded e-reader. Some believe it is part of a previously rumored e-reader push from Microsoft and an app that will support both Nook content and plain text.

According to previous leaks, there is also another app called the Microsoft Office Reader app, that was apparently shown to employees last year and will support PDFs and textbooks, among other things. This could be the same reader app the Xbox team is rumored to be working on, but there is no direct evidence to suggest that.

Nook Customer Care tweeted saying that it looks forward to launching the best reading app on Windows 8 "in the near future," (the tweet has since been deleted) so hopefully those who were into the Nook for Windows app, won't have to wait too long.